Finale

but that’s the last thing I’m interested in right
now. You lied to me. You went behind my back. Worse, I had to find you stripping off your clothes with him in our bathroom. Our
bathroom!
He wants one thing from you, Nora, and he’ll
take it wherever he can get it. There’s nothing special about losing your virginity over a toilet.”
    “I wasn’t—we weren’t—my
virginity
?” I shook my head and made a disgusted gesture. “Forget it. You’re right—you don’t want to
listen. You never have. Not when it comes to Patch.”
    “Everything okay here?”
    My mom and I turned to find Marcie standing just outside the door. She held an empty cauldron in her arms and hitched her shoulders apologetically. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve run
out of monster eyeballs, aka peeled grapes.”
    My mom shoved some hair off her face, trying to collect herself. “Nora and I were just finishing up. I can make a quick run to the store for grapes. Anything else we’re low
on?”
    “Nacho cheese dip,” Marcie said in this timid mouse voice, as if she hated imposing on my mom’s kindness. “But it’s really no big deal. I mean, it’s only
nacho dip. There will be nothing to go with the chips, of course, and it
is
my favorite, but really and truly—no big deal.” The tiniest sigh escaped her.
    “Fine. Grapes and nacho dip. Anything else?” my mom asked.
    Marcie hugged the cauldron and beamed. “Nope. That’s it.”
    My mom fished her keys out of her pocket and walked off, her every movement harsh and stiff. Marcie, however, stayed put.
    “You could always mind-trick her, you know. Make her think Patch was never here.”
    I turned cool eyes on Marcie. “How much did you hear?”
    “Enough to know you’re in deep crapola.”
    “I’m not going to mind-trick my own mom.”
    “If you want, I could talk to her.”
    I breathed a laugh. “You? My mom doesn’t care what you think, Marcie. She took you in under some misguided sense of hospitality. And probably to prove something to your mom. The only
reason you’re living under this roof is so my mom can throw it in your mom’s face: She was the better lover, and now she’s the better mother.” It was a horrible thing to
say. It had sounded better in my head, but Marcie didn’t give me time to amend my statement.
    “You’re trying to make me feel bad, but it won’t work. You’re not going to ruin my party.” But I thought I saw her lip wobble. With an intake of air, she seemed to
collect herself.
    Suddenly, as if nothing had happened, she said in a bizarrely cheerful voice, “I think it’s time to play Bob-for-a-Date.”
    “Bob-for-a-what?”
    “It’s like bobbing for apples, except every apple has a name of someone from the party attached. Whoever you draw is your next blind date. We play it every year at my Halloween
party.”
    I frowned. We hadn’t gone over this game idea beforehand. “Sounds tacky.”
    “It’s a blind date, Nora. And since you’re grounded for eternity, what have you got to lose?” She pushed me into the kitchen, toward the giant tub of water with red and
green apples floating in it. “Hey, everyone, listen up!” Marcie called over the music. “Time to play Bob-for-a-Date. Nora Grey goes first.”
    Applause broke out across the kitchen, along with catcalls and a few shouts and whistles of encouragement. I stood there, mouth moving but emitting no words, cursing Marcie fluently in my
mind.
    “I don’t think I’m the best person for this,” I yelled at her over the noise. “Can I pass?”
    “Not a chance.” She gave me what looked like a playful shove, but it was forceful enough to send me stumbling to my knees in front of the tub of apples.
    I shot her a look of pure indignation.
I’ll make you pay for this,
I told her.
    “Pull your hair back. Nobody wants nasty stray hairs floating in the water,” Marcie instructed.
    In agreement, the crowd roared a collective “
Booo
.”
    “Red apples are matched to boys’ names,” Marcie added. “Green to girls’.”
    Fine! Whatever! Just get this over with,
I told myself. It wasn’t like I had anything to lose: Starting tomorrow, I was grounded. There were no blind dates in my future, game or
no.
    I dipped my face into the cold water. My nose bumped into one apple after another, but I couldn’t sink my teeth into any of them. I came up for air, and my ears rang with boos and jeering
hisses.
    “Give me a break!” I said. “I haven’t done